Yun Qing and Lü Xiao were living in incomparable bliss, but life was not going well for the male and female protagonists—especially the female protagonist.
When Zhou Yao woke up the next day, she felt as though her head were splitting apart. She hurriedly circulated her healing ability to treat her injuries while also remembering to ask the System.
“System, what happened to me? Why does my head hurt so much?”
After waiting a long time without hearing the System’s reply, Zhou Yao assumed it had crashed again. She paid it no mind, but when she saw her teammates sleeping beside her like dead pigs, she was utterly shocked.
She hurriedly used her healing ability to wake them. Once everyone was awake, they all stared at one another in bewilderment.
“What happened?” Shen Lian asked.
The situation was far too strange. They were ability users, so how could they have fallen asleep without the slightest warning?
Zhou Yao quickly examined their surroundings. Relying on her supernatural ability, she soon detected hallucinogenic substances in the campfire.
“We probably brought back a hallucinogenic plant by accident while gathering firewood. After it was burned, we inhaled it, which caused us to lose consciousness.” She analyzed the situation aloud, still shaken. This was deep in the wilderness—if danger had appeared, they all would have been wiped out.
The others also patted their chests in lingering fear.
“Everyone needs to be even more careful from now on. Many plants have mutated, so we can’t judge them by common sense anymore,” Shen Lian said solemnly.
“Yes, Captain. We’ll remember,” everyone replied.
After checking everything, the group hurriedly left.
For several days in a row, Zhou Yao called out to the System countless times, but never received a response. Fear rose in her heart. Could the System have left?
This thought kept surfacing in her mind. The more she thought about it, the more panicked she became, yet she comforted herself by insisting that the System had merely fallen asleep because it lacked energy. As long as she found an energy stone, it would wake up. That had to be it.
Zhou Yao continued comforting herself. Finding an energy stone became an obsession in her heart.
The team gradually ventured deeper into the mountains, and the danger increased accordingly. The higher-level Mutated Plants were almost all hidden deep within the mountains. After losing several teammates, they still had made no progress in finding the energy stone they were seeking, and the teammates began to complain.
“Zhou Yao, what exactly does this energy stone look like? You have to explain it clearly today. We can’t just believe whatever you say, can we?” one teammate demanded.
This question had already been asked countless times, but Zhou Yao had never even seen a spirit stone, so she did not know either. The System was acting as if it were dead; no matter how she called it, there was no response. This left her extremely irritable.
“Exactly, Zhou Yao. You haven’t told us anything, yet you brought us all the way into these remote mountains. I’m starting to suspect your motives,” another teammate said bluntly. Their lives were not meant to be used as entertainment for her. This was the Apocalypse—who would indulge her anymore?
“Captain, do you really believe that energy stone Sister Yao Yao mentioned exists? We’ve already lost several teammates. You can’t keep treating us like fools and deceiving us,” another female teammate also spoke up.
Shen Lian sighed helplessly. He felt he must have lost his mind. How had he ended up indulging her foolishness just because of something Yao Yao had said?
“Yao Yao, have you actually seen this energy stone? You’ve seen our situation now. We can’t keep indulging your foolishness.”
There was helplessness in Shen Lian’s words, but everyone understood what he meant: they were giving up and heading out of the mountains.
“A-Lian, I don’t know what it looks like either, but once I see it, I’ll definitely recognize it,” Zhou Yao said in an almost pleading tone.
“What? You’ve never seen it either? You’ve never seen it, yet you dared to make us risk our lives with you? Zhou Yao, you really don’t take our lives seriously! Captain, let’s go back. I don’t want to keep looking anymore!”
“That’s right, Captain. I don’t want to indulge Zhou Yao’s foolishness anymore!”
“Exactly! She’s treating our safety like a joke!”
The teammates all voiced their opposition. Shen Lian was helpless as well. He was a man—a man with ambition. He could not destroy the career he had painstakingly built for the sake of a woman. As long as he remained in charge of the Base, what kind of woman could he not have?
“Enough. We’re going back! Everyone, eat something now. We’ll leave once we’re done,” Shen Lian declared, making the final decision.
“A-Lian! You…”
Before Zhou Yao could finish speaking, Shen Lian interrupted her. “Zhou Yao, I can’t disregard my brothers’ lives and deaths for your sake. I’m their captain, so I have to take responsibility for them. Stop making a fuss, all right?”
The refusal in Shen Lian’s tone made Zhou Yao’s heart tremble, and suspicion arose in her mind as well. Could A-Lian be planning to abandon her?
Hah? Men!
Once a crack appeared, it was difficult to repair. With someone else following them who was openly coveting Shen Lian, it was impossible for them to return to the way they had been.
By the time they returned to the Base, the couple who had once been desperate to cling to each other had already begun giving each other the cold shoulder. Later, they even began deliberately acting against each other. If you met with a female subordinate, I would go chat with a male teammate. At any rate, I couldn’t be the one to lose out.
Their series of outrageous maneuvers nearly caused the Base to be destroyed by the zombie horde. In the end, the other people in the Base stepped in and stripped Shen Lian of his authority, finally stabilizing the Base.
The male and female protagonists faded into the crowd!
When Yun Qing learned about this, he opened his eyes wide in shock. Based on his previous experience, this was clearly a sign that the protagonist halo had dimmed, allowing the others to stop being influenced by the plot and begin breaking free from it.
However, none of this had anything to do with him. He was busy—busy exchanging for gold, silver, and jewelry, busy collecting crystal cores. He was even saving the time he would have spent sleeping. How could he have time to pay attention to those two?
Still, through what had happened with the male and female protagonists, Yun Qing also understood a principle: the wise one does not enter the river of love, and a stubborn fool never lets go. Love could lower one’s intelligence!
Yun Qing stayed in this world for another three years, collecting a large number of crystal cores and scanning the knowledge of this world into the System before preparing to leave.
At that moment, he was both nervous and excited. He was nervous because he feared he might fail—and, of course, he would not become a martyr either. He was excited because, if he succeeded, he would be able to roam across the various planes!
Yun Qing placed his body inside a crystal coffin and stored it in the West Wing Room. In his Soul state, he pressed the activation button.